Perforating apparatus



Nov. 19, 1935. N. K. ENGST ,PERFORAT ING APPARATUS Filed Nov. 1, 1934 2 Sheets-Sheet l 45 000 0000000 000000000OOOOOQQOOOOOOOOOOOO a6 0 o o o O O o O o o O o o O o o 9 O 0 o o o o O o o o o o o O O O O O O O O O O O INVENTOR IV. A. [N687 5 4 Zd M ATTOR/Vf') (M mw n v 7 up WiLIIL Patented Nov. 19, 1935 UNITED STATES P ATENT oi-ncl-z PERFOBATING APPARATUS Application November 1, 1934, Serial No. 150,919

'16 Claims.

This invention relates to perforating apparatus, and more particularly to apparatus for punching statistical cards.

It is an object of the present invention to pro-.

vide a simple, inexpensive perforating mechanism which is flexibly operated.

In accordance with one embodiment there is provided a coordinate arrangement of punch actuators and punch selectors positioned above a plurality of punches arranged in columns and transverse rows. A selector is provided for each column of punches and an actuator is provided for each row of punches. A ten key keyboard controls the operation of the actuators and is con- 5 nected through a distributor switch and a switchboard to select and operate the punch selectors in any desired order as controlled by the switchboard. I

A complete understanding of the invention may 20 be had by reference to the following detailed description thereof when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein Fig. 1 is a plan view of. a mechanism embodying the features of applicants invention;

25 Fig. 2 is a circuit schematically showing the electrical connections between the various parts of the apparatus;

Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional view along the line 3-3 of Fig. 1 in the direction of the arrows, and I 30 Fig. 4 is a vertical sectional view taken along the lines 4-4 of Fig. 1 in the direction of the arrows.

Referring now to the drawings wherein like reference numerals designate the same parts 35 throughout the several views, particular reference being made to Fig. 1, the numeral 5 designates a base upon which the mechanism is supported. In the lower right hand corner of the base 5 there is provided a keyboard 6 on which 40 there are mounted ten keys 1 corresponding to the digits 1 to 9 and 0. These may be any suitable type of non-locking electrical switching keys and may be mounted in any suitable manner upon the base 5. v

45 Referring now to Fig. 3, it will be seen that there is mounted upon the base 5 a die plate 8 and that the base 5 is cut out as shown at 9 to permit scrap forced through the die plate 8 to fall into a suitable receptacle (not shown). Mounted directly 50 above the die plate 8 is a guide in in which are positioned four hundred and fifty headed perforating pins l I, which are in direct vertical alignment with four hundred and fifty holes (2 in the die plate 8. Guide ID is'cut away atits bottom sur- 55 face as shown at l3 to receive a card l4.

The perforating pins H are arranged in columns of ten to a column and transverse rows of forty-five to a row, a stripper plate 20 being provided for each row of perforating pins. The stripper plates 20 are normally urged upwardly 5 (Figs. 3 and 4) by springs 2| positioned in the upper portion of the guide member ID for returning the perforating pins to their normal position, after they have been depressed in a manner to be described later. 10

Extending longitudinally of each column of perforating pins II is a selector strip 22 formed of a thin flexible sheet of metal and having secured to the underside thereof (Figs. 3 and 4) ten projections 23 so positioned that when the strip 22 is in its normal inoperative position the projections are in vertical alignment with the spaces between the heads of the perforating pins ll. At the left end (Fig. 3) of each of the selector strips 22, there is secured an inverted L shaped stop member 25 which serves to position accurately the strip when it is operated A spring 24 having one end set into theguide I0, has its other end engaging the downwardly extending portion of the L shaped member 25 to normally hold the selector strips 25 in their left hand position (Fig. 3). A stop member 26 is fixed to the bottom surface of each selector strip 22 and when the spring 24 moves the selector strip to the left the stopmember will engage the guide member IO to position accurately 30 the selector strip in its inoperative position. The right end of. each of the selector strips 22 is secured to an actuating bar 30 positioned between suitable guides 3| and having adjacent its right hand end an aperture 32 adapted to receive the vertically extending arm of a bell crank lever 33. There is provided one bell crank lever 33 for each actuating bar 30, and all of the bell crank levers are pivoted upon a rod 34 mounted in side plates 35. The bell crank levers 33 are normally urged about the rod 34 in a clockwise direction (Fig. 3) by contractile springs 36 individual to each bell crank lever. There are provided three arms on each of the bell crank levers, one extending into the aperture 32 of the selector strip 22, one connected to the contractile springs 36, and one extending upwardly as shown at 31. The upwardly extending arm is urged by the contractile springs 36 into engagement with the armature 38 of an electromagnet 39. The armatures 38 are pivoted at 42 and the electromagnets are supported on plates 43 extending between the side plates 35.

In order to mount the electromagnets 39 so that they will have their armatures extending into the respective vertical planes of the holes of the record card positioned on the die plate, thereby to have direct control of the selector strips 22, the electromagnets 39 have been arranged in an arcuate staggered relation as shown in Figs. 1 and 3. A cover 45 is provided for enclosing the magnets 39.

Extending longitudinally of each row of perfora-ting pins H is an actuator bar having associated therewith a pair of solenoids 5| {the movable cores 52 of which are secured to the actuator bar so that upon energization of the solenoids 5| the associated actuator bar will be moved downwardly against the energy stored in springs 53. A portion 54 (Figs. 3 and 4) of the guide It restrains the movement of the actuator bars 50 upwardly beyond a predetermined position.

As disclosed in Fig. 2 each of the keys 1 is equipped with three contacts 55, 59 and 55. Contacts 58 are connected to ground at 5| and upon operation of any key 1 ground will be connected from 5| through the contacts 55 successively to the contacts 59 and'55 of the key operred. All of the contacts 59 are connected to a rotatable brush 52 of a selector switch designated generally by the numeral 53 and the contacts 55 are connected individually to the electromagnets 5| which are connected to grounded battery at 55.

The selector switch 53 is of the type used in automatic telephone systems and comprises the brush 52, and a plurality of contacts 55, of which there are in the particular embodiment disclosed herein forty-flve arranged arcuately and adapted to be engaged by the brush 52 to control the forty-five columns of punches associated with the forty-five columns on the usual type of statistical card.

The contacts 59 are also connected through the winding of an electromagnet 55, forming a part of the selector switch 53, to grounded battery at 55. Upon energization of the electromagnet 55 it will attract its armature 55, which is normally urged in a counterclockwise direction about a pivot 51 by a spring 55. The armatm'e 55 has a pawl-59 pivotally connected thereto, which upon energization of the electromagnet 55, will be moved to the right (Fig. 2) over a ratchet wheel 15 and upon release of the electromagnet 55, the spring 58 will move the ratchet wheel to drive the brush 52 forward into engagement with its next associated contact 54.

Each of the contacts 54 of the selector switch 53 is connected to one terminal of a jack 1| in a small switchboard indicated at 12 (Figs. 1 and 2). There are provided forty-five plugs 13 which may be inserted in the jacks 1| of which there are forty-five. The plugs 13 are connected to the electromagnets 39, and when the plugs 13 are inserted in the jacks 1| circuits may be set up whereby operation of various keys 1 in the keyboard 5 may control successively any selected ones of the electromagnets 39, depending upon the method in which the jacks 1| and plugs 13 are cross-connected. Each -iack 1| has a break contact 15 which is broken upon the insertion of a plug 13 in the jack. When a plug 13 is inserted in the jack 1|, contact 15 will be broken and the contact 54 associated with that jack will be connected through the plug 13 to its associated electromagnet 39, which is connected to grounded battery at 55. When no plug is inserted in a Jack H, the contact 19 will provide .a path from grounded battery 55 through electromagnet 55 to ground at 19, through the armature of electromagnet 55 in normal position,-to cause the brush 52 to step until it engages a contact 55 associated with a jack 1| in which a plug 13 has been inserted.

The contacts 55 associated with each of the keys 1 are connected to the solenoids 5| for the digits 1 to 9 and 0, respectively, so that immediately after a selector strip 22 has been actuated the continued movement of the, key 1 will close a circuit to energize the solenoids 5| associated with that key. 1

' The operation of a selector strip 22 under control of a key will move the projections 23 of the operated selector strip out of normal position to a position where they are in direct vertical alignment with the heads of their associated per- 1 forating pins Just prior to the operation of the selected solenoids 5|. When a pair of solenoids 5| are operated, a selector strip having been operated, the perforating pin' II at the Juneture of the actuated actuator bar 55 and selector 2 strip 22 will be forced through the card I. The operation of the solenoids 5| is delayed until after the operation of the magnet 39, partly by reason of their greater inertia and partly because their contact 50 is closed subsequently to 2' the closing of contact 59. If desired the solenoids 5| maybe made additionally slow acting by well known expedients.

'An additional key (not shown) may be provided for spacing over columns of the card in which it 31 is not desired to perforate any information. This key would be similar to the keys associated with the digits except that it would have no contact leading to the solenoid 5| and in its operation will simply advance the distributor brush 52 step-.3 by-step over contacts 54 associated with unused columns on the statistical card. This key has not been shown since the construction of the embodiment disclosed herein is such that if the plugs 13 associated with any of the forty-five electro- 4 magnets 39 are inserted in certain successive ones of the jacks 1|, the selector switch 53 will automatically step its brush 52 over all of the contacts 54 which are not connected, by the insertion of plugs, to electromagnets 39. This key is 4:1 useful when it is desired to set the machine for certain types of punching operations in which predetermined ones of the columns of the record cards are to be punched in the majority of cases, but in some few selected cases predetermined ones 50 of the columns are to be left blank. In such event the key may be utilized for advancing the brush 52 over contacts connected to magnets 39v which are not to be used without changing the setting of the machine.

It is believed that a brief description of the operation of the machine will aid in the understanding of the invention, and therefore let it be assumed that the switchboard 12 has been set by inserting the plugs 13 associated with the 1st, 50' 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 42nd, 43rd, 44th and 45th electromagnets 39 in the first eight Jacks asso-, ciated with the contacts 54 of switch 53, and that it is desired to leave blank on the record card the 9th to 45th columns. It would then be necessary as to operate the keys I eight times, and the brush 52 would be returned to the position shown in Fig. 2, Upon operation of any digit key, for example, key 1 for the digit 5, a circuit will first be completed from grounded battery 55 through the electromagnet 55, the closed contacts of the key to ground at 5|, to energize the electromagnet 55 to move the pawl 59 to the right against the tension of spring 55. Simultaneously with the operation of electromagnet 55, a circuit will be completed 15 from grounded battery at 80 through one of the electromagnets 39, the plug 13, jack 1|, contact 64, and t e brush 62 to ground at 6 I. 'This will result in the operation of one of the electromagnets 38, causing it to pull its associated selector strip 22 to the right (Fig. 3) to bring the projections 23 over the heads of the perforating pins II in the selected column. Immediately after the contact is made between contacts 58 and 59, contact will be made between the contact 59 and 60 associated with the digit 5 key, and that will complete the circuit from grounded battery at 56 to the solenoids 5| associated with the digit 5 to ground at 6|, thereby causing the actuator bar 50 to be moved downwardly and since one of the selector strips 22 has been moved to the right (Fig. 3) the actuator bar in moving downwardly will drive the perforator pin ll selected by the coordinate action of the actuator bar and the selector strip through the card H. As soon as the key I associated with the digit 5 is released, electromagnet 65 will fall back and spring 68 will cause the pawl 69 to advance the distributor brush 62 into engagement with the next contact, whereupon the operation may be repeated for any selected keys, the distributor brush advancing in a similar manner until the information desired to be punched in the card has been perforated therein.

As soon as the distributor brush 62 reaches a contact 64 which is associated with a jack H in which no plug 13 has been inserted, the brush 62 will automatically step over the contacts 64 until it reaches a contact associated with a jack in which a plug 13 has been inserted, due to the completion of a circuit from ground at 19 through the armature 66, break contact I8, contact 64, brush 62, electromagnet 65 to grounded battery at 55. This operation in the example given will set the punch for the next card and since the stepping over unused contacts is rapid, the machine will be ready for a new card as soon as the punched card is removed.

Obviously the switchboard may be cross-connected inany manner and information set up on the keys may be punched in any desired column of the card by making suitable cross-connections in the switchboard 12 and if it were desired to use the combinational hole system of punching, which is well known in tabulating practice, the circuit connections running from the keys to the solenoids 5i might be suitably arranged.

Although a specific embodiment of the invention has been desired in detail herein, it is to be understood that applicant is not limited to the specific disclosure but the scope of the invention is to be limited only by the appended claims, for example, the invention is not limited to the type of punch in which the perforating is done at the time the pins are depressed but the pins might be locked down and the cards punched later. 4

What is claimed is:

1. A perforating mechanism comprising a plurality of perforators arranged in columns, and a plurality of elements positioned at angles to each other, and jointly operable for selecting and operating any perforating element in any column.

2. A perforating mechanism comprising a plurality of transversely. positioned elements, a plurality of perforating members associated therewith, and means for selecting any two transversely positioned elements to actuate one of the pe'rforators.

3. A perforating mechanism comprising a plurality of perforators arranged in columns, means for actuating a perforator comprising a selector positioned over each column, a plurality of actuators extending over all columns, and means for selecting in one operation an actuator and a selector to cause the actuation of a perforator. 5

4. A perforating-apparatus comprising a plurality of perforating members arranged in columns and transverse rows, a selector positioned over each column. an actuator positioned over each row, means for selecting and actuating any 10 selector and actuator to operate the perforating member associated with the selected selector and actuator.

5. A perforating mechanism comprising a plurality of perforating elements, a plurality of col5 ordinate elements, and means for jointly operating the coordinate elements to select and actuate any of the perforating elements.

6. In a perforating mechanism, a pluralityof perforating members, a group of elements ar- 20 ranged as ordinates, a group of elements arranged as abscissae to form a coordinate system. and means for actuating saidelements to select and actuate any perforating member.

7. In a, perforating apparatus, a group of el'e- 25 merits arranged as ordinates, a group of elements arranged as abscissae to form a coordinate sys-' tem, a perforating member at each coordinate point of said system, and means for selecting andactuating said elements to actuate the perforating members.

8. In a perforating apparatus, a ten key keyboard, a plurality of perforating members positioned at coordinate points in a coordinate system, a. plurality of actuator bars arranged as abscissae, a plurality of selector elements arranged as ordinates, a pair of solenoids individual to and controlled by each key for actuating the actuator bar associated with each key, an electromagnet associated with each selector element for actu- 4 ating it, a distributor switch comprising a brush associated with all the keys, and. a plurality of contacts associated with said brush and equal in number to said electromagnets, and a switchboard for connecting said contacts to any of said electromagnets.

9. In a perforating apparatus, a keyboard having keys representing characters, a plurality of perforating members arranged in columns and rows, actuator bars representing characters and associated with rows of perforating members, a distributor switch controlled by said keys, a selector element associated with each column of perforating members, actuating means for the selector elements, and a switchboard interposed between said distributor switch and said actuating means for controlling the order in which the selector elements will be operated.

10. In a perforating apparatus, a keyboard having keys representing characters, a plurality of perforating members arranged in columns and rows, actuator bars representing characters and associated with rows of perforating members, a distributor switch controlled by said keys, a selector element associated with each column of perforating members, actuating means for the selector elements, a switchboard interposed between said distributor switch and said actuating means for controlling the order in which the selector elements willl be operated, and means for returning the distributor switch to normal position.

11. In a perforating apparatus, a keyboard having keys representing characters, a plurality of perforating members arranged in columns and 4 rows, actuator bars representing characters and associated with rows of perforating members, a

distributor switch controlled by said keys, a selector element associated with each column of perforating members, actuating means for the selector elements, a switchboard interposed between said distributor switch and said actuating means for controlling the order in which the selector elements will be operated, and means under control of the switchboard for actuating the distributor switch automatically when it is desired not to operate predetermined selector ele ments. --12; A perforating mechanism for tabulating cards comprising a plurality of perforating pins arranged in columns, a plurality of selectors one positioned over each column, a plurality of actuators positioned transversely'of the selectors, a keyboard for determining the order in which the actuators will be operated, and means including a distributor switch, a switchboard and the keys for determining the admin which the selectors will be operated. V 13. A perforating mechanism for tabulating cards comprising a plurality of perforating pins arranged in columns, a plurality of selectors one positioned over each column, a plurality of actuators positioned transversely of the selectors, a keyboard for determining the order in which the actuators will be operated, and means for de- ,dii'ferentflcolumns of pins for successive operations of the keys respectively.

.termlning the order inrwhichthe selectors will be operated.

14. In a perforating apparatus, a plurality of perforating members arranged in columns, a pinrality of selector elements associated with said 'perforators, a plurality of actuators associated with said perforators, and means for controlling .16. A, perforating mechanism for tabulating .cards'comprising a plurality of perforating pins arranged in columns and transverse rows, a key- 21 board having keys corresponding to said rows, an

tactuator for the pins of each row and controlled by the respective key, and means for-conditionlug-the pins of one column at a time for actuation by said actuators, said conditioning means 2| being controlled by said keys so as to condition NOR-BERT K. ENGST. 8t 

